Saturday, 31 October 2009

Two Peel Sessions from the best thing to come out of East Kilbride, from 1985 and 1986.

Tracks 1-3 feature the classic lineup of Jim & William, along with Douglas Hart on bass and Bobby Gillespie on drums. Now THAT's a reunion I'd pay good money to see. Douglas Hart has been at pretty much every Primal scream gig I've been to, always armed with a video camera. He must have hundreds of hours of footage of them on tour - I dread to think what kind of activity he'd have captured. Wonder if it'll ever see the light of day. He also did the stunning light show for their most recent tour.

Tracks 4-6 are just the brothers Reid with trusty drum machine, pre Darklands.

Caught them a few times the first time round which were a bit hit'n'miss, there was an infamous show at the Barras where someone spiked Jim's drink with smack (or so the story goes) and they came on stage and played Surfin USA three times in a row, false starts a gogo. More recently they're been on top form - caught them at a couple of festivals in 2007 and they sounded excellent. Jim was looking unbelievably good but William's turned into a right fat cunt (years of boozing I guess).

Not strictly a download, but a plug for the pumpkin that my overtalented mate knocked us up in a quick half hour for tomorrow night's halloween party. It's to go outside in the garden of the hosts. Serves the cunts right for having a garden. And staying in Edinburgh. I'll stick to my 3rd floor Glasgow tenement.

Theme = rock icons.

I'm going as Nigel Tufnel and m'lady is going as Robert Smith in the Lullaby video. My costume's fairly shite, got the t-shirt with the skeleton done in luminous green, cut the sleeves off, drainpipe black jeans and hideous white shoes, complete with horrendous mullet wig. She's got a pair of spot on men's pyjamas, a frightwig and mental black makeup. Spray-on cobwebs and furry spider to be added enroute. Looks magnificent.

The train to Edinburgh should be fun, especially the trek home on Sunday.

There might be a post or two on Saturday but Sunday is a write-off. Had planned a quiet night in tonight but things have developed.

I was gonna attempt to remix the Ripped In Glasgow header logo in some kinda spooky halloween style but ended up couldn'ae be arsed. Consider this the replacement.

Friday, 30 October 2009

... and while we're on the subject of pish bands getting the remix treatment.

Couldn't believe it when I saw this 12" in the shop - Jesus fuckin Jones? Don't get me wrong, I'd seen them more than once in various dark and dingy establishments back in the 80s but had never actually LIKED them. Oh no.

I haven't listened to this for years (the mantra which persuaded me to get off my ass and do this blog), and always assumed it was one of those 'remixes' that he just picked up a random DAT tape for when the courier came from the record company. Mind you, there's a snatch of breathy vocal that could just be our man Mike Edwards (I didn't even need to google his name, how sad is that). Two pretty good mixes, it has to be said.

Am I allowed to say that I only had a brief interest in the Aphex Twin? Saw him a couple of times circa Didgeridoo, stuck around for Ambient Works Vol 1, the Polygon Window stuff then lost interest. 1993 basically. Oh aye, got that 'Come To Viddy' as well but only for the video for a few times when you were fucked about 6am and there was someone there who hadn't seen it.

Oh aye, the tracks? B1 = before you go out, B2 = once you eventually wake up. Nuff said.

The A-side of this 12" has a Prodigy mix that I've never listened to and two others which I haven't either. Fuck that pish.

The last I head, Jesus Jones were doing corporate gigs in America for big company bashes where they'd come on, play about four tracks then fuck off and pocket the cash. Sellout cunts. Meanwhile, Mr Aphex is in semi retirement playing the odd gig and releasing the occasional uncredited piece of nonsense...

This is one of those "a remix of WHO?" 12" that you sometimes came across, another example being this Prefab Sprout 12" from a year or two before it.

This tune was on everyone's playlist back at the time, and deservedly so. My copy's certainly been played to death, but not for a while as I'd forgotten all about it until just there. Magic!

It's a wee bit crackle-tastic at the start due to abuse back in the day, but sorts itself out soon enough.

So, Utah Saints then. Pish. Although I must admit that I had a bit of a guilty pleasure thing going on with them at the very start and may even have bought the Something Good CD Single(!) at the time of release but it's long gone. It came out just as I was being introduced to the ways of the dance so I'll excuse myself for that one.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

This is mistakenly labelled as "Sonic Shuffe - The Weatherall Mixes" when it's actually "101 - three Weatherall mixes and one other mix which may or may not be Weatherall under a nom-de-plume" - I guess it's not got the same ring to it though. According to the ever-reliable (and new-look) Discogs, the A2 mix is by "Scooby Doo & Shaggy 2" who have no info on 'them' on the site. *sigh* - it isn't easy, is it?

Anyway... A1 and B1 do indeed shuffle along, they almost sound like they could have come out of Manchester (it was 1991). Nice heavy bass throughout. A2 does away with the shuffling sound and sounds a bit more like Finitribe. B2 features the "point of most intensity" vocal sample, and a piano hook that reminds me of 'On' by Aphex Twin. All very good.

One of the few records that I have that's still got the reaction sheet in it. I've scanned it and if you feel the need you can see it here and here.

I mentioned it before, but Finitribe member Chris Connelly's book, 'My Life As A Revolting Cock' is well worth a read. Such depravity...

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

This features the dual talents of Ludovic Navarre (aka St Germain) and Shazz (aka Aurora Borealis), and very nice it is too. This was the point when there was a load of real quality French dance music getting made, and they all seemed to get on with each other and work together. Awww. Just before those big bad boys Daft Punk came along and spoiled it for everyone.

Not much else to say here, except that it should appeal to anyone into the whole FNAC/F Communications stuff that was floating about around that time.

I never realised back then that there was a lot more to FNAC (Fédération nationale d’achats des cadres, fact fans) than just a record label. It was a workers collective, co-op kinda thing in the 60s/70s, then developed into the French equivalent of Virgin(?) in the late 80s/90s - they seem to have the right attitude anyway. Ain't Wikipedia great?

Another set of exclusive goodies from The Corridor, once again courtesy of Chris from the band (cheers again).

A particularly fucking evil sounding collection, just in time for Halloween. The first track is "really early lo-fi Corridor from our first ever post Autobutcher get together. Luckily I grabbed a few samples before the tape disappeared." Just as well you did, pal.

This time round, all tracks Chris compositions, except the aforementioned 'One In The Chamber', which features the original lineup of Ashley Marlowe - drum machine, Nat Mellors - samplers, Grant Newman - vocals, Chris Barter - synths and samplers. It's remixed by Chris as well.

Guest vocals include Eric the cat on track 4(!), and a really fucking sinister spoken vocal by Sonia Heywood on the final track.

A beautiful EP, fairly chilled but still with a wee bounce or two. Lots of electro/breaks noises with some fab bass hooks throughout.

Keith Tenniswood is often overlooked when you hear about Two Lone Swordsmen - quite unfairly I think, although I am guilty of omitting his name from the labels on any previous Keith-related posts. I've seen him a couple of times at the Soundhaus in Glasgow and it's always been a great night (unlike most other nights in there - always mildly disappointing).

This is the only record I have which mentions Mad Dog 20/20 wine - a favourite fruity teenage tipple amongst my friends, particularly when the small town where I grew up somehow managed to ban Buckfast (THE drink of the local neds, ideally washed down with a few jellies for maximum effect). I think it was an agreement between the local booze merchants and the cops. Didn't work though, as anyone who had a car often got propositioned at knifepoint by a couple of neds to go to the neighbouring village to stock up on the bionic tonic.

Nice and handy this - three sides play at 45rpm and one plays at 33. Cheers, Laurent - just the ticket for drunken spinning in dark rooms. I'll let him off though, as these tracks show him at the top of his game.

Post 'Man With The Red Face' he lost the plot if you ask me, so this represents the midpoint in his decade of quality tunes.

Highlight has to be the final side, Dance 2 The Music, but each one of the five tunes is a winner in my book.

I saw Laurent DJ a few times back in the day and was always blown away. His two Essential Mixes from 1994 were excellent as well. If anyone's got the Silicium - Nowhere EP as featured on his June 94 mix can they rip it and sling it my way. I'd be eternally grateful, it reminds me of my only ever jaunt over to Ibiza in 1994.

Phew! That was all a bit commercial, wasn't it. Unlike what I've just pulled out...

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Seeing as how we're on a bit of a 'live recordings' tip this weekend, here's a fab Primal Scream bootleg I bought up the Barras market shortly after this gig. It's recorded at the Barras, April 94.

It was ripped off a Radio One broadcast (I think), so doesn't have the full show. The CD I've got doesn't include Come Together - I got that thanks to a resourceful punter over on the Webadelica forum who managed to get it from someone at the BBC on the fly.

This gig was at the start of the Give Out... tour, which was smack city by all accounts. They fucked off around the world after this with Depeche Mode (a marriage made in junkie heaven) before returning to the Barras for two nights in December which were mental (supported by The Sabres Of Paradise!) - a helluva show, you can hear how fucked Bobby is in the vocals - Higher Than The Sun especially.

If anyone in Glasgow has nothing better to do tonight and has a spare £15, get yourselves down to the Arches to see the mighty Phoenix - it's sure to be a winner...

Missed this last night as I was out, but (get this) set the computer to record it off the radio for me. Arrived home about 2am new time (I think), and attempted to cut the news out of this and uploaded it. Sounds like I actually managed it properly so hopefully this won''t have the 'journey to work ruining' news in the middle of it. We'll see - I haven't listened to it yet but it's on just now.

It's got the usual 30 minute 'disco mix' at the end of it. Maybe I'll take all of them and fire them up separately at some point. A wee festive treat maybe.

Righto - need to go into town now to buy a mullet wig for my Nigel Tufnel halloween cozzie. Will listen to this on the work journey tomorrow. Judging by the tracklisting it's a winner (again).

I'm curious about this 'Lark' track below, but don't wanna ffwd till then, will get it all in real time I think...

*EDIT* - bugger. Didn't manage to edit out the news, must have been too pissed last night. Might get on the case later on.

Saturday, 24 October 2009

This was given away as a free download with The Guardian today, so it's in the public domain and any non UK/non Guardian folks can get it here.

Fever Ray were one of the highlights of the Latitude festival this year, with a stunning stage show to boot. I'm glad I got to see them as it's game over after a London show on 5 December.

As well as the album tracks, there's a cover of Nick Cave and Anita Lane’s Stranger Than Kindness on this. What a fuckin voice singer Karin Dreijer Andersson has - if you're not familiar with The Knife's albums then purchase them immediately. There's a cash in Deluxe double disk version of this album coming out as well, with extra tracks on the CD and videos on the DVD. One for the Xmas list I reckon.

Wonder what's next then, another Knife album I hope...

Fever Ray - Live in Luleå <1 - If I Had A Heart2 - Triangle Walks3 - Concrete Walls4 - Seven5 - I'm Not Done6 - Now's The Only Time I Know7 - Keep The Streets Empty8 - Dry And Dusty9 - Stranger Than Kindness10 - When I Grow Up11 - Coconut

Another Cope oddity, this time supposedly on "Southern Cross Recordings" from Italy, circa 2005, but you can never be sure.

A live recording from the Royal Festival Hall, this features mostly new(ish) tracks, apart from Easter Everywhere (from his shittest album, My Nation Underground), which I saw him play in 1988 at this gig. Very bizarre, it is ripped from a CD that I bought off his website a few years back. It only appeared briefly and soon disappeared.

There's a great rant about Odin/Vikings etc at the start of the last track so make of that what you will. In fact, if anyone is in any doubt as to whether JC has taken enough acid in his life then you should reassess that judgement after listening to this track. Pure bonkers.

The lineup includes Doggen from Spiritualized and Thighpaulsandra from Coil, along with Holy McGrail from ambient collective Slomo and Mister E on the drums.

Fuck me - it's much easier to rip a CD than vinyl - just pop it into iTunes and click 'Import', scan in the sleeve and you're there. They're still pish though. I never liked them.

Megaupload again, as it's >100Mb.

Fuck, my head hurts. Just woke up fully clothed in bed about half one, that never happens (the fully clothed bit). Must've been that 7% cider I was drinking last night. Ouch...

Friday, 23 October 2009

A great Glenn Underground EP from 1994 on Cajual. Haven't had one of them up for ages.

Just found a shelf there that I hadn't looked at for a while and pulled out this baby. This 12" was supposed to feature his I Feel Love mix, but it got pulled due to legal issues. A few sneaked out though, which you can pick up for a mere £50 quid or so if you feel the need. It turned up on this bootleg later though, of course.

Four great tracks, A1 features a great phased guitar sample, sudden bursts of strings and a great melody of a snatch of vocal sample. Magnificent stuff to start things off. A2's got this brilliant bassline with a guitar riff and twisted continuous synth note that just makes me wanna dance. This was always a favourite GU EP of mine.

Dunno who Rob is/was, but his 'dance' is certainly a winner over on B1. Maybe he was in action down at Genie's night, as featured on the following tune. These tracks have all got a really quick fade on them Maybe Glenn was in a hurry to get down the Disco...

Right that's put me in the mood for some good dancin' tunes. Next post's gonna take the action back to Europe. France, maybe...

*EDIT* just went for a couple of pints while that was uploading. Ain't gonna happen tonight. Cannae wait for BBC4's Krautrock doc on at 9pm then the subsequent Kraftwerk show. Tomorrow = no money = probs a few posts...

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Hot off the press, the magnificent Magazine, reformed for 2009 and this may be their last show.

Check this fuckin set out - recorded this very evening from 6 Music and features Magazine doing 'strictly A-sides and B-sides' for a stunning 45 minute show.

We saw them at the Latitude festival back in July and were blown away - I'd seen the Buzzcocks at the start of the year but this was something else. Weird thing was they played in the tent on Sunday night, second headliner to the Gossip (yawn). Meanwhile on the main stage it was Editors (double yawn) followed by headliners Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cue a mass exodus from the tent to the main stage after Magazine, and all the young 'uns doing the reverse journey for their pish. Surely bad planning by the organisers there, no? Poor Barry Adamson had to hotfoot it from one stage to the other as well. Bet that cunt had a helicopter though - it was at least 200 yards. Made it just in time though, and both delivered tip top sets.

This is how you play a 'reformed' set. Are you listening, Ian Astbury...?

This is from the same staple as some of the Harthouse/Frankfurt brigade and is a great wee set of four bangin' acidy trancey tunes. I reckon there's always a time and a place for this kinda shit and I've said before and will no doubt say it again - early 90s trance was no bad thing. Years before it became a by-word the formulaic shite listened to by teenage day-glo Mitsubishi guzzlers, this sort of stuff used to get played back at the likes of Pure and always went down a storm.

A1, B1 and B2 are the big dancefloor tracks (a couple of jumps on B1, apologies for that). Lots of intense noises, synthy breakdowns, acid squelchings and that staple of any trance track, the big build-up. A2 slightly more 'home listening' but it's all relative I guess.

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

"Ultimate Seduction"... so went the vocal at the start of side A of this early Sabres 12".

Another Sabres 12" ... I know, I'm in danger of turning into a one-trick pony but what the fuck - this is a great 12".

Didn't realise at the time that it was the work of the Magick Eye / Astralasia crusty-rave brigade but when you listen to it now you can totally hear it in some of the noises. This was a big one round a flat I was a regular guest in circa 1993.

Just in case you didn't realise it from the label scan, SYT stands for Shave Yer Tongue, an old London club from back in t'day.

"Most exquisite pleasure"... don't mind if I do, missus. A and B1 both great commercial tracks, well as commercial as a Sabres record could be. Check out that bass in track B2 - that's a biggie. Fuck me, that breakbeat and that woman yelping in ecstasy - a nice wee Brucie bonus on there at the end, leaving me breathless right enough. Great wee piano outro as well.

There'll be no more Weatherall-related for a bit now, think I've milked the old cow dry a bit over these last couple of weeks.

Mind you, he's back behind the controls of the 6 Mix on Saturday so I guess youi'll be seeing that one up on Sunday...

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

I got an email from founder member Chris Barter recently via myspace (remember that?), thanking me for putting up the Corridor stuff that's appeared so far(!), and offering me some more where that came from. Fuck me - the generosity of some people is unbelieveable...

So needless to say I emailed back with my address and sure enough last week I got an album on CD along with four CD-Rs of unreleased stuff. WTF?!?! Chris very kindly labelled the CD-Rs with the personnel involved with each track as well. Above and beyond the call of duty or what??

This is a random CD-R from the four, which Chris entitled 'Atrocities Etc'. I've labelled the tracks A, B & C as he did on the label, so you can see who's involved:

I've used Megaupload as it's over 100Mb and the RAR thing doesn't seem to be too successful judging by my previous efforts (4Shared can only go 100Mb per file), so I'll have no idea how many downloads this will get, but will stick up the rest of the stuff in due course if you seem up for it via the comments box.

What's this CD like? Well, it ticks all the boxes marked 'lo-fi', 'evil', 'dark' and 'sinister' if that floats your boat. It certainly does it for me.

Monday, 19 October 2009

A double-pack of spacey minimal tracks from 1997 on the Alien Disco label.

Dunno too much about this, apart from the fact that Tom Spragg (me neither) did A1-C1 and Aubrey is responsible for the rest. You can tell that they're done by different folk - Tom's are more kinda 'happy' sounding, if that makes sense. I'm not talking happy hardcore here, rather spacey minimal techno with a cheeky grin on its face. That grin isn't so present in Aubrey's trio of tracks but it's a great package all in. Not dark, evil or sinister, but great rhythmic minimal techno that pulses along very nicely.

If it's dark evil sinister stuff you're after then stay tuned for an exclusive tomorrow...

The reason for this post is that a certain Mr Weatherall dropped this on Friday night - the first time I've ever heard him play a Primal Scream tune! The lack of posts over the weekend are a result of the nick I was in following the blowout after the immense set that I witnessed down at the Bastard Dancehall. He played a dub-tastic set, sprinkled with a couple of tracks from the Boardroom 2 album and the vocal mix of this. I thought at one point near the start that I could hear Brother Johnston sneaking in but it wasn't to be. Plenty more besides, but the emphasis was on dancey dub, if that makes sense. The bass vibrated right through my cock during a mid-set piss in the bog halfway up the stairs. What a sound system!

He was looking very dapper - shirt and braces with THAT 'tache and a beard as well, although shaved sides and the usual semi-quiff on top. One girl came up to me towards the end and said, "where's he from?". I replied, "darkest London" and she went "ooh, I thought he was a Geordie. He looks like a Geordie weightlifter from a circus" ... I had another look at him and could kinda see what she meant.

I tried to catch him for a word, but they cleared the place pretty quickly at the end and he was hidden away behind the makeshift curtain on stage. Not the busiest night I've been at, but it was £12 on the door and there was plenty of stuff on elsewhere in town so I guess it was for the hardcore only. Scotland's best radio station, Radio Magnetic, has posted up a mix that he did to promote the evening - their site seems to be a bit iffy just now so click here to download the mix from 4Shared if it's down.

Can't believe that's only the first time I've seen him play since starting the blog, but I guess he's been pretty busy on the production/remix side of things. Missed him once before this year but certainly won't be missing him next time...

Friday, 16 October 2009

A couple of weeks ago when 'Jim' sent me the CD containing the marathon set with Ivan Smagghe he also included this baby, from 2007 at the Lowlands festival. It came with his highest recommendation.

Sure enough, it's a belter of a mix. Must be from round about the same time as Watch The Ride must have been put together going by the set. Thanks again for the CD Jim!

Just getting myself in the mood for later on, already listened to the Bloodsugar 1 mix today which is sounding as stunning as ever. Just to clear up a few of the comments in previous posts, here is a high quality version of BS1 in its original form as an Essential Mix, but unfortunately has Pete Tong on the top. It's worth it for the great quality. Coming at'cha courtesy of the Slam forum (tracklisting in link).

If tonight's set's a fraction as good as either of these fellas we're in for a real treat. Wonder how he'll be looking...

Posting the Optimo mix below put me in the mood for some Pure-style acid.

A1 starts with a vocal loop of "Can I taste" (girl), "Can I taste" (boy), "Can I taste" (girl), repeats it for a couple of minutes then lets the 303 riff sneak in and take over the mix for another epic acid journey courtesy of Random XS.

A couple of great tracks on the flip make this another great DJAX EP.

So... Weatherall tonight then. I'm going as Moggie-nae-pals as m'lady is entertaining folk (worky pals, ie not up for this kinda nonsense), mates are all either too skint, no well, or on holiday to exotic places like Vegas and Spain. Cunts! Considered not going but couldn't contemplate missing another Glasgow show, especially as 2009 has been a classic Weatherall year. Will head in about midnight and hopefully see a few familiar faces.

I'll give a full match report when I return to planet earth which may or may not be tomorrow...

This time round, it has a very different feel to it, as you can see from the blurb below. They've gone all modern, and actually have an iTunes subscription link on the download page, so it'll all happen automatically next time.

"This podcast is called "(All this talk of Disco...) The Jerking Back and Forth Mix". The title (part-borrowed from a from a Devo song) is an indication of the type of involuntary body responses provoked whilst enjoying these songs as well as the sound itself. The new stuff and the old stuff, the local stuff and the stuff from very far afield is united here through a kind of "loose is tight" jerking rhythm and DIY spirit we love. Although all tracks are at their original tempo and of course not "mixed" as such, there is however some kind of a flow (be it a "jerking" one) to the podcast. Again there is no tracklist for reasons outlined in the notes for "Optimo Podcast 01" but again, if anyone really wants to know what a particular track is, we will be happy to tell them. Collected over the past 30 years or so, none of the music is (that) hard to find. The podcast was recorded using turntables, then the levels balanced here and there in Protools. The mix contains 20 tracks, lasts just under an hour and the download is a 192kbps mp3 (80.9mb). Enjoy."

I had a very enjoyable return to Optimo the other week to see the magnificent Health playing live, but couldn't stay the full time due to having work the next day. Really should make the effort more often as it's one of the few clubs where I don't feel like the oldest cunt in town and it's got the best DJs in Glasgow. But we all know that, don't we...

Thursday, 15 October 2009

This is a superb EP from 1994 on the Prime label, an offshoot of Eevolute.

It's the work of Erwin Van Moll, with help from a certain Mr Robbers on track B1. Each track is absolutely stunning - I've not posted nearly enough work from the Eevolute brigade yet - there's plenty more to come if I can lay my grubby paws on it.

This should help to make up for the lazy post below - fuckin typical, just had my best day of hits ever thanks to the Spiritualized bootleg spreading like *insert your own joke here* and the top post has got the worst patter ever thanks to being rushed due to the un rock'n'roll act of my mum calling at the flat to get me to round and help fix their shitty computer. But I digress...

Anyhoo - go check it oot and you'll not be disappointed. I think I'm going a bit insane here, things aren't working which should be problem-free and my heid's all over the place. Post London laughing gas meltdown? Maybe. Better be back on the planet for Weatherall tomorrow. Mind you, I reckon I look a bit better than in this pic - found it recently during my ticket scanning marathon. That gaunt look with terrible hair was never a winner. Was it...?

Max 404 - REA1 - Not If I See You First (for Maximum Power)A2 - Seen (At Funki Bizniz)B1 - Not If I remix You FirstB2 - 6 am Somewhere In EindhovenB3 - The Next Morning

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Here are three Sabres mixes of an early 90s track which I previously had on Global Cuts, but it wasn't that great a tune in its original incarnation. I only bought it 'cos I was getting everything on Global Cuts, but then realised that the label had gone pretty shite pretty quickly.

Mix-wise these remind me of the Espiritu ones that were done around the same time. Weirdly the one short(ish) track gets a whole side to itself and the two biggies have to share the flip. Odd.

A timely reminder to all Glasgow viewers that Mr Weatherall is on at the inaugural Bastard Dancehall at Stereo on Friday, alongside Martin from Rub-A-Dub. I'm (seriously) gonna have to raid my piggy bank for cash as I went a bit nuts in London at the weekend and the bank machine will probably swallow my card...

Phew! That was a helluva weekend - a party on Friday night, no sleep till approx. 5am Sunday by which point I'd arrived in London, spent the afternoon and evening boozing, and been introduced to the magic of laughing gas. This set us up nicely for the Peter Murphy show at Indigo2 on Sunday - a lesson for all early 80s acts on how to pull off a gig with grace and style. Magnificent stuff indeed.

By Monday we weren't feeling too clever, but a trip to the pub to meet the rest of the troops soon cleared away the cobwebs. We had a great selection of seats for the Spiritualized show - I was right down the front with my London-dwelling friend, and the rest were up in a box at the left hand side. It was here that the recording was made - I think we were deemed too untrustworthy to keep quiet up in the box - aye right…

The show itself? Mind-blowing. I've seen them loads before, with string quartets and choirs, but this was something else. I counted over 30 people onstage throughout. They did the album in order then an encore of Out Of Sight. At some points I actually thought I was having an out-of-body experience - other things had taken hold of me. By the time it got to Cop Shoot Cop it was hold on to your seats time.

This is THE best audience recording I have ever heard, and it was my mate Tufty and his swanky digital setup who did it.

If you're in the vicinity of Manchester or London for the remaining shows I urge to to get tickets and be suitably blown away...

*EDIT* Get your second night recording in WAV format here: Part 1 / Part 2

Friday, 9 October 2009

The Bis mix is fab, and sounds like bits of Fade To Gray and Enjoy The Silence in places. A great wee tune. The 'Strap's own mix on B1's mixed (deliberately, I hope) to make the sound go right through you. The Jason Famous mix on B2 has a great heavy drum and bass sound (not THAT sort) with distorted Aiden over the top - another winner there.

Great lyrics, as usual from Mr Moffat, who we were supposed to see at the poetry tent at Latitude this year but the selfish cunt only went and got swine flu and had to cancel.

That's it post-wise till about Wednesday as I'm off down to London tomorrow morning for a wee adventure that will include Peter Murphy on Sunday night and Spiritualized on Monday. Only snag is I'm at a party tonight and will get approximately zero sleep before the train at 8am. Oh well, start as we mean to continue I guess. If the guy who offered to buy me a pint at the Spiritualized gig is reading this then email me at some point and I'll take you up on your kind offer, with bells on...

Some Danish minimalism from 1997 on the Funque Droppings label (me neither), which has the magnificent catalogue number FUD 01.

I'm no fan of golf and have never experienced polo. Most golfers I know tend to be cunts (apart from my dad but he's a 3 rounds a year kinda guy), the sorts from work who get up at the crack of dawn for a round on a Saturday/Sunday morning. Doubt I'd like polo either, seems to be the preserve of overprivileged inbred fannies from what you read about. But - Waterlog obviously disagree, considering the titles involved with this EP.

These two tracks should appeal to anyone who's been digging the Basic Channel / Chain Reaction stuff I've been posting of late.

The two guys involved appear to be big on the Danish minimal scene - I dunno how difficult this would be to achieve as I can't imagine there is that much of a minimal scene in Denmark. Certainly didn't stumble across any on my recent trip to Copenhagen, that's for sure. I have been known to be wrong though - there's no doubt a Basic Channel-style studio lurking somewhere in deepest Christiania that I'm way too out of touch to be aware of...

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Debut release from the Corridor/Conemelt brigade on Sabres from 1993. Well, not actually the debut - I've got a 12" by a band featuring at least one member which was the debut New Ground record from its pre 'Dance Division' imprint. Bet they've suitably disowned this release. Will fire up at some point.

This EP introduced us to the unique sound that was to be heard across the future Corridor/Conemelt/'various-other-aliases' releases and it's got plenty to offer across all three tracks. If you're a fan, stay tuned as I've got some exclusive Corridor material winging its way to Ripped In Glasgow Towers as we speak *taps nose*.

I reckon that during the 90s this lot were possibly my favourite UK dance/electronic act, shame they never got the attention they deserved...

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

What a fuckin compilation this is. Mostly taken from Planetary Funks 1-4 with some different bits, this sees Luke Slater in punishing form over 9 amazing tracks.

I'm not in the habit of posting whole albums but this seems to be out of print and is basically a compilation of stuff I would have uploaded anyway. The track titles are slightly different form the original 12" releases.

Back in 1995, this was never off my turntables - Luke in this guise could do no wrong in my book. This has great UK techno, Detroit-esque techno and some German sounding stuff in there to boot. My pick o'the bunch (if I was forced to pick a couple at knifepoint) would be Gated and Booster - tip top techno tunes.

An odd credit for an EP (but essentially true), as this is essentially two Juan Atkins tracks (A1 & B2) with accompanying tracks by Ron Cook (who worked with Juan in Audiotech) and Drexcyia on each side. Who gives a fuck though - it's classic Juan on A1 & A4 with THAT Detroit sound over a great eager drum track (A1) and a slightly slower but equally fab track on B2 that's got some great muffled nonsense going on at the end of it.

A2's got a brilliant bit towards the end where all the sounds get fucked up/changed up/down and the riff charges along regardless. I love this kinda shit. B1 is a very noisy affair, with the sort of sounds you'd associate with an electro track over a techno beat. Very Drexciya, in other words.

Right - two early posts today as I managed to sneak out of work early. Now got to get my best mid 80s goth clobber looked out before heading east to go and see The Cult doing Love. Its 2009 for fuck's sake - what a sad cunt I am...

Turns out that one half of this Monolake lineup is the dude who invented Abelton Live! So... no Monolake, no Optimo!?!? They've produced stuff constantly from 1996 right up till self-released stuff today. Check the fairly wanky biog that they've done for their Discogs entry:

"Monolake is an open project dedicated to computer generated music, founded in 1995 by Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles. We were impressed and influenced by Minimal Techno music and Drum&Bass and at the same time discovered the sonic richness and sophistication of academic computer music. These poles became the source and inspiration for our own creations."

Gerhard was Mr Abelton, and he's been replaced by the guy from Various Artists. Fuck me - this lot are more incestuous than that Sabres lot!

The A-side has the trademark Chain Reaction sound, but with driving bass, an overlying synth melody(!) and some additional plinky plonky noises at some points - hey, it's almost commercial!

The B-side's got a bit of a fuzzy scratch at the start but you soon get over it. It's much more of a drone with lots of subtle changes through it. The fuzzy scratch may even be part of the track. Drums kick in after about 3 minutes and it's like the fog clearing, a great track indeed.

This is a wee gem in the Chain Reaction stable - well glad I picked it up again today...

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

This is part 2 of this 2-part 12" set, bought for the two excellent Carl Craig remixes.

Track A1' s a fairly decent techno track from Dave Angel, which is very exuberant and sounds not unlike Dark & Long(?) by Underworld.

The remixes, however, are where it's at. A2 sounds like a Landcruising-era Craig remix which ticks all the right boxes, but the beatless track on the flip is the money shot - check out this very enthusiastic review on Discogs. No sign of Dave Angel anywhere on these two, I wonder why Mr Craig chucked them away on this fairly low-key release...

12 minutes of sheer bliss, which should make you smile inside on an otherwise shitty Tuesday evening...

PS - just realised that the torrent linkys on the left were fucked due to the lack of Pirate Bay. I've re-upped them to Mininova and will seed till at least Xmas.

Here's the other Blood Sugar release, to accompany this double-pack from earlier on.

The two versions from Glasgow's own Percy X are both flange-tastic, which as regular viewers will know, floats my boat in a very acceptable fashion. The two Blood Sugar / Emissions mixes are nice and subtle, fairly downbeat affairs. The B2 mix has the same sort of floaty 'blow into keyboard thing' sound that Primal Scream used in 'Star' off Vanishing Point. All very nice indeed.

The link I posted earlier about the infamous Bloodsugar mixtapes omitted mixes 1 and 2. Fear not, as the kind folks over on 4four.org have managed to get their paws on them. Here they are - Bloodsugar 1 and Bloodsugar 2. *EDIT* looks like #1's not the right mix (see comment) - I'll keep checking for it. *EDIT #2* - correct Bloodsugar 1 here (cheers, Anon).

That should keep the Weatherall wolf from the door for a wee while (he's up on 6Mix again soonish as well)...

Sunday, 4 October 2009

A fine cover of the Marc Bolan classic, the original of which was my "mum & dad shagging song". Um, let me explain - know how everyone knows what was number one on the day they were born, and it's usually something pish? A mate once said that no no, what you should do is go back exactly 9 months before you were born and see what was number one then. I did, and this Bolan track was sitting pretty at the top of the charts.

Found out yesterday that Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy is playing a show in London next Sunday night, promising to play some new stuff (hmmm), and some Bauhaus classics. Grand - I'll be down there next weekend for the Spiritualized show the following night so will check that out - a nice wee Brucie bonus.

Not looking forward to tomorrow. As well as it being a Monday, I'll be suffering due to tonight's Pixies gig followed by Health at Optimo afterwards. The intention is to not get too fucked, leave straight after the band and definitely go to work tomorrow. Only snag is I've got to work a 12-hr stint and there's no getting out of it.

Saturday, 3 October 2009

As a young and impressionable 10 year old I first heard this (didn't buy it at the time), and it was my first introduction to the magic of David Bowie. A few years later I was buying up the Bauhaus catalogue and any covers they did made me go and seek out the original versions. This was quite handy, as a lot of the old gothy bands did great covers, so that led to stuff like The Stooges and The Velvet Underground. This 7" paved the way for a journey into the world of Brian Eno as well, courtesy of the the B-side, another great cover.

In recent years it ultimately inspired tattoo #1, and I'm still tempted to get the Bauhaus face done somewhere as well...

Friday, 2 October 2009

A bona fide classic for a Friday afternoon to set us up for the weekend's antics, courtesy of Mr Carl Craig from 1995.

Ripping this finally gives me the chance to fanny about with doubling up the mp3 and my 12" on the superb piano intro (might make that my new ringtone, actually), the way I heard someone do back in the day. Maybe it was Carl himself, although I doubt it as I wasn't too impressed with his DJing skills. Moggieboy TrueFact: Carl Craig was the first ever 'guest DJ' I saw play, at Pussypower at this night in 1993. Had a fuckin amazing time, but dunno how much of this was down to the snowballs, and the fact that I was very much in the honeymoon period of my relationship with this crazy machine music. Any time I saw him after this I was much more well versed in what good and bad DJing was and he didn't quite cut it. Always spun great tunes though...

Much preferred seeing him doing a live set, which happened for the first time on this occasion (Pussypower again), which was an excellent night.

What to say about this 12"? He was on fire at this point, pretty much everything he did 1992-94 blew me away. Both sides here are stunning, and you should definitely give over half an hour of your evening to listen to it in full.

I got the notion to upload this 'cos I've been listening to an old Tim Sweeney mix on the work journey today and it starts off with E2E4 (sampled on Remake Uno) and finishes with The Climax going into Cat Power(!), coupled with the fact that its big purple sleeve just jumped out at me...

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Picked this up because of the Hardkiss name, and the fact that it was going cheap. It was only when I got it home (you weren't allowed to listen to the cheap ones in advance, that was the deal) that I found out the A-side is an unofficial mix/reworking of Don't Fight It, Feel It by Primal Scream. Result!

The A-side's got an extra really weird bass kick drum that comes in every 8 beats for some reason - it's all a bit mental. Lots of cut up samples of Denise Johnston's vocal with a great police siren and some strings coming in over it. Just before the 4 minute mark there's a breakdown to the strings and the weird bass drum then a nice breakbeat comes in. The Denise vocal comes back in at about 7 minutes for some more of those vocals. Oh look, here comes the siren again. A great wee bonus for all the Primal Scream fans...

The other two tracks? Both kinda dubby affairs. The first one's got a bassline that I totally recognise but can't place it. The second one starts off with the strangest drum pattern ever, then goes all wah-wah guitar over a slow breakbeat with some backwards noises yet manages not to sound like the Stone Roses. These two tracks may be takes on other well-known tracks as per the A-side (hence 'Unreleased'?) but I'm stumped.

Any help on these two tracks would be appreciated, I bet they're both really well known as well...

This was sampled to fuck on the ned-rave 'classic' Rave Generator by Toxic Two which came out on that cutting-edge dance label, PWL...

... kinda weird as the A1 mix on this is by Damon Wild and Ray Love, aka Toxic Two.

The A1 version here's a bit slower than that one and doesn't contain the cheesy Sueno Latino samples. I reckon Damon and Ray were going for a quick buck from the glowstick brigade, so that they could record beautiful tracks like this one.

The A2 mix has that kinda early trancey sound that a lot of R&S stuff (eg Stella) was going for round about that time - a very slow flange stretched over a few bars.

Get this though - B1's speeded up a bit, adds a bit of crowd noises and a breakbeat. Fuck me, I'm off to get a pair of white gloves and an Altern-8 mask - it's the same tune as the Toxic Two one! It's even got the siren noises and the sample from Sueno Latino. Check it out here if you don't believe me. According to the credits this track is written by Johan and Tommy Rombouts, and produced by Frank de Wulf. No mention of Wild or Love here, and no mention of the other three on the label for the Toxic Two one either by the look of that YouTube clip.

*sigh* is it any wonder I get confused all the time. Now where did I put that Reynolds Girls 12"...